For sin taking occasion by the commandment,.... As in Ro 7:8,deceived me; either by promising pleasure or impunity: the same effect is ascribed by the Jews to the evil imagination or corruption of nature, which they say is called an enticer, Mda htpmv, "that deceives man" :and by it slew me; mortally wounded me: not the law, but sin by the law, deceived and slew him; so that as before, the law is cleared from being the cause of sin, so here, from being the cause of death; for though the law is a killing letter, the ministration of condemnation and death, yet it is not the cause of it; but sin, which is a transgression of the law, is that which deceives or leads out of the way, as the word signifies, and then kills.
The metaphor is taken from a thief or a robber, who leads a man out of the way into some bypath, and then murders him. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 141. 3. & 150.